Aquino said he would apologize to Binay about his decision, especially since Binay has been conducting a study on the matter since February.

Binay in June submitted results of his study, and his recommendation to allow a state burial for Marcos who will be laid to rest in his hometown in Batac in Ilocos Norte instead of at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as his family wants.

“He (Binay) had a recommendation, and it was recently called to my attention again, we have so many victims of the martial law years, who have not gotten even recognition formally from this government…They have not been accorded an apology, the compensation bill is still pending, and it would be really, I think, the height of injustice to render any honors to the person who was the direct mastermind of all their suffering…I think I will not, I am not sanctioning, not under my watch, a burial for the late president Marcos,” he said.

Aquino said according Marcos state honors would “demean the honors given to others of a similar nature.”

Senator Marcos said Aquino promised to consider his family’s proposal when he was still a candidate only so that he could get votes.

“He has wasted a very good opportunity to unify the nation. He obviously does not want to heal those divisions…he wants to widen those divisions, which brings us to the conclusion he’s not a natural leader,” he said.

“(This) is not the act of a leader. It is not the act of the head of state. It is not the act of somebody who is trying to bring the country together. It is the act of somebody who is continuing to promote the divisiveness of partisan politics,” he added.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Binay’s recommendations were taken into account by Aquino, but the President still has the last say on the matter.

“It’s a recommendation and the President can either accept or reject it, “he said.

Marcos died in 1989 while in exile in Hawaii. His body was returned to the Philippines in 1993 during the term of then president Fidel Ramos who said he approved it on three preconditions: direct transport of the body to Batac; accordance of military honors for an Army major; and, immediate burial of the body.